If you're new to photography (or bird photography in general) this will be an evolutionary process. Take your time and have fun with it. Here are some tips and considerations to get you started.

Background

In Part Two of the series, we worked on setting up and planning for attractive backgrounds - but you still have to pay attention. In the shot of the Black Capped Chickadee above, the distant background provided a nice creamy blur - but it's not perfect. The brown blur over the bird's head wants to draw your attention away from the bird. Always actively look at your background as you're composing the shot, a step or two to the right would have improved this shot tremendously.

Getting Close

Most, but not all, birds will begin to get comfortable with you in their space. To aide in this, sitting (or standing) still and generally being quiet is needed. Limit sudden movements by being more deliberate and slow when you do move - it will ease the bird's tension. Also, sitting in the same spot frequently and for good blocks of time will help the birds adjust to you. I regularly sit within 12-15 feet feet of my closest bird setup with no issues (except be aware of the minimum focusing distance of your lens. This determines how close you can be and still achieve focus). Oh, and one more thing - don't think you can hide. Trust me, the birds know you're there!

Lighting

Needless to say, you want great light for your shots. When you were setting up your backyard birding area, you paid attention to morning and afternoon sweet spots as well as accounted for the movement of the sun over the spring and summer months - so you're all set. Well, not completely. Consider one more technique as the last piece to the perfect shot - fill flash.

Now, this isn't a requirement (you can make great shots without it) but it helps you deal with some of the inevitable shadow areas that can appear on the bird, especially around the eyes, face and breast. In the Bluebird shot above (and many of my other backyard shots) I use fill flash along with an inexpensive adapter called a better beamer to help my light throw farther. When you're ready, brush up on fill flash and take your shots to the next level.

Coloring

Pay attention to the coloring on certain birds to ensure you time your shot correctly. Similar to many ducks, some birds have an iridescent quality to them that varies depending on their angle to the light. What appears to be almost totally black at one angle, can look quite colorful at a slightly different angle. The Tree Swallow above is a good example. Almost dark black over his eye but the same color behind his eye (at a slightly different angle to the sun) is amazing. Pay attention to the light and learn the coloring traits of your birds.

Be Considerate

Don't endanger your birds for the sake of a picture. When birds are very young, it can be safe (in nesting boxes only) to approach and take close-ups - but keep the following in mind:

Mom and dad will fly off - but will return when you leave

Be quick about it, do not leave the box open for any length of time due to temperature considerations

Do not move the box around

Do not move or disturb the actual nest

Do not approach the box after the first week or so. As the birds get older, you could force them into fledging (trying to fly off) too soon and endanger their life.

For birds that are naturally nesting in trees and other places, don't even approach, you could alert predators to their location (where as properly setup nesting boxes are protected) or damage the nest by moving branches or other obstructions around.

Have fun with this new aspect to your photography - it's a very rewarding experience!

A photo friendly habitat makes the job much easier - and it doesn't have to be fancy or expensive. The basic setup below contains all the elements needed for the birds (food, water and cover) and I added a few low cost perching options for my (and the bird's benefit). Keeping an eye open after some spring thunder storms can usually turn up broken branches and chopped up trees. I used one chopped stump that I found and several branches to make up different perching options for my feathered friends.

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In order to be "portable" with my displays and able to change my perches out, I use a potting bucket filled with stones as my base. It keeps everything nice and orderly, mobile and fairly easy to make changes.

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Here are a few more photo friendly environment tips to keep in mind:

Pay attention to your backgrounds. The farther away you can keep them and minimize drastic color changes, the better you'll be. It will help deliver a nice creamy background.

Shoot tight. As you can see in my setup - distractions abound. Shooting tightly allows you to place bird feeders near by (to interest your subjects and encourage them to hang out on your perch) without having these "hand of man" items ruin your shot.

Don't forget the sun location - both now and next month. As the sun moves through the season, it's position will shift slightly - making a flexible shooting environment a must.

In part three, we'll get to the meat of it - making some great bird shots! Stay tuned.

Generally speaking, you can shoot jets at a very high shutter speed - unless you're looking for a certain type of effect (more on that later) but with prop driven planes it's important to shoot slow enough to show as much motion in the propeller as possible. Yes, this is easier said than done - as the Mustang in the shot below illustrates.

shutter speed too fast.

Quick Tips

Determine you current "stable" panning shutter speed

Start at 1/750th and begin working down from there

Practice good panning techniques

Plant your feet shoulder width apart

Keep your elbows tucked in

Pick a spot on your target and keep one specific focus point on that spot

Pivot at the waist

Gradually start to slow your shutter

Different airplanes will have different "sweet spots" - as high as 1/350th of a second all the way down to 1/60th of a second

Take a look at the shot below taken at a later air-show and compare it to the "frozen" Mustang above. Sharp focus is maintained but with a nice pleasing blur in the Mustang's prop. You don't get the feeling that the aircraft are just hanging in the sky but rather a good sense of motion.

acceptable shutter speed.

Jets

Generally speaking, you can use a high shutter speed on jets - makes for easier shooting and with a jet's speed you may need it. There are times, however, when you'll want to reduce your shutter speed based on background and simliar situations. The shot below is a good example, higher shutter speed for the jet worked just fine - but a slower speed would have significantly blurred the background creating an even greater sense of speed.

F-86 Sabre

One last consideration for slower shutter speeds, be sure you're not dealing with three axis movement. You can manage a shutter when:

the plane is moving closer or farther away from you (autofocus does this)

the plane is moving forward (a good panning technique handles this one)

However, if the plane is rotating, rolling or pitching up dramatically at the same time it's moving forward - you'll start to pick up some blur as you can't pan in multiple directions.

Make sure you remember to plan those "memorable" images to come
How often do you pass by an object or a certain location and say to yourself "wow, this would be a great picture if only ______" ! Fill in the blank: "good light", "cloudy day", "it was wet", "it was dry" . . . . and so on. Well, here's an opportunity to make some of your own luck. Create a "shooters to do list" and add your new found opportunity.

When you find that special something, follow these steps:

Snap a cell phone shot of the scene or object:

If you're using a relatively new phone, not only will you have a reference image (like the opening shot in this post) but you'll have the GPS info embedded, enabling you to find the location in the future.

Use a voice recorder app on your phone (or make paper or mental notes) to note the best shooting direction, lens you'll want to use and what unique elements you'd like to have for the image. In the above tractor image, it was already late fall with some snow on the ground. I visualized an overcast day just after a fresh snowfall so that's the conditions I figured would look the best for this shot. Here are a few examples of elements you may desire for your future plan:

A certain time of the year, like fall - or maybe the dead of winter when everything is barren?

Would the shot be better in early morning or late evening?

Could it be a nice "rainy day" shot?

Should you wait for a foggy morning?

Are you looking for a bright day with shadows just so - or would a totally overcast day be better?

When you return home, build a quick record of your planned "shoot". Doesn't have to be fancy, even just placing the info on a single sheet in a word processor will do. Save it electronically along with a calendar reminder or just print it out and keep your planning file the old fashioned way.

tractor planning.jpg

With a little bit of advance planning when you find something of interest, you'll be able to return at the right time and capture a great photo. The tractor shot below is what I ended up with about four weeks after I took the original cell phone picture and envisioned the "perfect" shot. I also had a ball in the process!

4 years of cold weather shooting (down to -23F) has taught me a thing or two. Here are a few rock solid tips - some you've probably read a few times, along with a few that will be unique!

Camera and Gear

Moving from cold to warm - and vise versa

Probably the most common topic addressed, my answer is very simple - pack your gear in a photo bag, and leave it there for a little while. For example, the pack will be warm when leaving your house and will allow the camera gear to gradually cool down in the car or field. The same concept works when going back into the house - I take my memory cards out of my camera/bag (and anything else I want to get to immediately) and then let the bag sit for a few hours in the warm house. The camera gear will gradually adjust to room temperature.

Keeping your breath in check on a really cold day (this is the really big one)

Use a lens hood - the shorter the lens the more critical this tip is. Your breath (even straight from your nose on a really really cold day) will roll around and frost up the front of your lens - and there is no easy way to get it off without warming up the lens. This is a real killer just as the sun starts to crest above the horizon on a fantastic cold weather sunrise shoot (yea, ask me how I know about this!)

Use some "Scope Dope" to help keep your LCD clear. This stuff does a pretty decent job on the LCD and an ok job on the view finder.

Use a Hoodman Eye Cup to keep your breath away from your view finder. Actually turn it vertical like in the image below for the best results, it does a great job of keeping your view finder fog/frost free in all cool to cold weather.

Battery Power - I've never had trouble with battery power in cold weather - and I keep my spare battery in my outer most pocket for easy access.

My spare battery is easily accessible, but it is also kept company in my pocket by Mega Size Hand Warmers to keep them warm - along with my hands when I stick them in there.

Open those hand warmer packs in advance of heading out into the cold, they take 5 to 15 minutes to warm up to full strength.

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The Photographer

Feet

Keep your feet warm, dry - and on the ground where they belong

Don't slip! There are now plenty versions of the YaK Trax seen in the image below. Get a pair, they work wonders on ice (including ice that is hidden below a layer of snow) There are even versions now that have actual spikes.

Maintain Traction on Ice

Dry feet are happy feet!

If you're in wet or snowy conditions, it goes without saying to at least have water-proof boots/shoes. In light snowy conditions (1" - 3") consider a simple pair of elastic leg gaiters (as seen above) to keep the snow out of the top your boots.

In heavier snow (greater than 3 inches and up to 7 inches) try some of the Neos brand products. The image below shows me using the Neos Trekkers in water but they do the job in snow as well. Warmer versions are also available - to cover both the "dry" and "warm" requirements. And yes, you CAN COMBINE the Neos product with Yak Trax.

Hands

My hands are the hardest body part to keep really warm. Before I talk about gear, here is the most important tip I've learned over the years - once your hands (fingers) get cold, you're in trouble. Get out of the cold and get them plenty warmed up again. So the best tip is to have your hands fully warmed up before you set foot outside - "gear up" in advance so you move into the cold with maximum advantage.

1st layer of protection - liners with pockets for warmer packs. The pockets locate the warmer packs on the back of your hand, above your blood vessels, enhancing the warming impact for your fingers.

2nd layer of protection - primary winter gloves, water proof with thinsulate or other warming material. How heavy this primary pair of gloves are is up to your personal needs.

3rd layer of protection - Mega Size Hand Warmers. Depending on how cold it is, I'll keep 2 or 4 of these in my coat pockets. Hands go in the pockets when not in use and I'll actually hold these mega warmers in my hands (between my hand and the camera) when I'm doing extending shooting in really cold weather.

Body

Keeping your core body temperature up helps you stay warm longer. So similar to your hands, get toasty (without sweating) before you head outside. Staying dry is a very critical component of staying warm, and layers are the other key. If the "core" of your body starts to get cold, it will quickly contract and divert warm blood from your extremities, sucking the heat right out of your hands and feet

4th layer of protection: Outer shell winter coat that is roomy, (with your layers on) wind and water proof. Collar protection and an insulated hood are a must as well

Head

Your head is one of the primary places heat escapes your body, so keep protection on and layer it as much as needed. I'll typically wear a full face mask and my winter coat's insulated hood. When it's needed, I'll add a neck gaiter or a warm cap. That's me below in full cold weather gear!

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Staying warm is not only the safe and smart way to shoot in the winter, it's also the path to great images. When you're warm and comfortable, you can place all your energy on the task at hand - getting some great shots!!